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Georgia clinches tourney berth

Posted: Sunday, May 07, 2000

By Anthony DasherAssistant Sports Editor

The kind of history Matt Steele flirted with Saturday afternoon against Ole Miss doesn't happen very often.

The last time a Georgia pitcher tossed a perfect game was when Don Woeltjen beat archrival Georgia Tech with a 5-0 gem on May 3, 1963. Fred Sale's 4-0 effort against Virginia in 1923 was the only other time a Georgia hurler has accomplished the feat.

Steele came agonizingly close to becoming the third, retiring the first 19 batters he faced before Ole Miss worked a walk off him in the seventh and then Burney Hutchinson touched him for a two-run home run. Still, Steele's effort against the Rebels wasn't wasted as the Diamond Dogs held on to defeat Ole Miss 5-4 in front of 2,111 at Foley Field.

More importantly, the win allowed Georgia (30-20, 14-11) to clinch a spot in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, which begins May 17 in Birmingham, Ala.

''I really didn't know I was doing all that. I was just trying to go after them,'' Steele said. ''That was the main thing. Pitching a no-hitter wasn't the first thing on my mind.''

Steele's senior campaign hasn't exactly gone as smoothly as he would have liked. The Bonita Springs, Fla., native entered play with a 5-3 record, but his 8.13 earned run average and an opponents' batting average of .310 aren't nearly as impressive.

But at least for one day, Steele pitched like Greg Maddux in disguise as he kept Rebel hitters off balance by spotting his fastball and mixing it with a variety of off-speed pitches and curves. Steele surrendered three runs and three hits in 613 innings. He walked one and struck out four.

''I'm just thankful that the coaches keep putting me out there,'' Steele said. ''I know I can do it, and I want to do it. It's just nice to be able to go out in my last home game and pitch as well as I did.''

The victory pleased Georgia coach Ron Polk as well, especially considering that his Diamond Dogs earn a spot in the conference tournament for the first time since 1995.

''This was a big goal for our seniors because they haven't been to the tournament before,'' Polk said. ''It's a great college environment. It's like a mini Omaha.''

Home runs by Brian Rainwater and Adam Swann helped Georgia build a 5-0 lead through five innings.

The closest Ole Miss (28-23, 10-16) came to getting a runner on base to that point came in the fifth when catcher Carl Lafferty bounced a short hopper to Mark Thornhill at third base. Thornhill bounced the throw to first, but Josh Dorminy scooped the throw to keep Steele's string alive. Banks Robinson then flew out to end the inning.

Steele set Ole Miss down in order in the sixth and retired Kris Cox to open the seventh. But after going 3-0 on second baseman Clint Farrar, Steele threw a strike before ball four sailed low and outside to give the Rebels their first runner of the afternoon.

He lost the no-hitter and shutout lost moments later when Hutchinson homered deep over the right-field wall to cut the lead to 5-2.

''For a split second, I thought that's the first time I've gone to the stretch,'' Swann said of his first pitch to Hutchinson. ''I'm like, maybe I was doing something right. I guess it kind of hit me a little bit.''

Jude Voltz and Lafferty followed with hits, which prompted Polk to pull Steele in favor of Troy Davis. But after Davis plunked Justin Huisman with a pitch to load the bases, Polk brought in Jody Friedman, who allowed an RBI groundout to Justin Huisman before getting out of the inning to keep the score at 5-3.

Friedman, however, couldn't finish the job. After he surrendered an RBI single to Voltz in the eighth that cut the lead to 5-4, Polk brought in Jeffery Carswell to face Lafferty. Carswell walked Lafferty but recovered to get Robinson, a Camilla native, to fly out to center to end the inning.

Carswell gave up a leadoff single in the ninth but retired the next three batters to pick up his fourth save and second in as many days.